Revelation
by JaggerK
Summary: In honour of the anniversary of Jason's death. Losing a child is the hardest thing that can happen to parents. Selina has always felt guilt over her part in Jason's death. She's put it aside until Red Hood shows up in town.
_Since we're in the Young Justice universe obviously Hood wouldn't attack Robin at Titans Tower. I opted to have him get Robin in Gotham instead of getting into the Mountain. This deals with what Catwoman's role in Hood's death was and how it affected her and Batman._

 _I own nothing that belongs to DC._

GOTHAM - RED HOOD'S HEADQUARTERS

PRESENT DAY

Red Hood heard the thud of a body hitting the floor on the other side of the closed door.

"Hunh." He glanced at the teen tied behind him. "Looks like he's getting here in time to save you."

The handle turned slowly and door swung open. The black and grey clad vigilante stood there taking in the scene in the room. Robin sat, bruised and bloody, tied to a chair in the center of the room. Red Hood stood in front of him and slightly off to one side seemingly relaxed but waiting.

"Well, now. This is unexpected." Hood's voice held bitter amusement. "Daddy too busy to come look for his little birdy?"

"My mess. I'm cleaning it up." Catwoman gestured behind her, where the multiple unconscious bodies of Hood's men could be seen. "That out there? That's yours. You left it in my way."

"How is this your mess?" Ignoring him, Catwoman stalked towards Robin. Hood moved to intercept her.

"You don't want to do that." Hood had seen that look on her face once before and he remembered that at the time he hadn't wanted it directed at him but there it was.

"I'm having a crappy day." The slight pause was all she needed to continue on toward Robin. She pulled a knife out of her boot and sliced easily through the ropes holding him.

"You good to go?" She asked Robin.

"Yeah." Robin eyed Hood warily. "You think he's just going to let us walk out of here?"

"Oh, he's letting you leave." Her voice was calm as Hood cursed. "I'm staying."

"What?" Both Robin and Hood exclaimed at the same time.

"Hood and I have some unfinished business. You need to get to Agent A. Besides, we don't need an audience." Catwoman took Robin's arm and moved him towards the door.

Hood stepped forward. "I didn't agree to this."

"I'm not leaving you here with him." Robin stated firmly.

"No one asked you for your opinion. Any of you!" She pointed at Hood. "You are going to stand right there." She looked up at Robin. "And you are going to take the bike, lock it on to the Batmobile's tracker, and head for Batman and Nightwing. Am I clear?"

Hood froze. He'd never seen Catwoman like this but clearly something was wrong. Robin swallowed, nodded, and left.

Catwoman let out a breath and activated her com. Hood watched her carefully. "I found him. He's headed to you." Pause. "No, I'm not with him. My mess. I'll handle it." Why did she keep saying that? What mess? "I have to at least try. You have to let me try. Don't come after me." Only family would know her voice shook slightly. "Fine. A time limit. See you soon Tiger."

"He better not come here." Hood growled.

"He won't. If I don't report in, he'll send Nightwing in after me." She responded.

"Because it worked out so well for Nightwing the last time we faced off." Hood laughed.

"You mean when you ambushed when he hadn't had any sleep for 3 days? Then yes, I suppose that you did get the better of him." She waved her hand at him. "Please take that helmet off. You've grown, you've changed. I want to see more. I know you wear a mask underneath but at least I can see something and it won't compromise anything."

Hood paused and then reached up to release the catches on his helmet. He slid it off and stood facing Catwoman with just the domino on his face. She walked forward and put her hands on either side of his face.

"I've missed you so much." She whispered.

For a moment, he wanted nothing more than her for to hold him and make everything better like she had when he was younger. For her to say all was forgiven and that he could go home. Then his eyes flicked to the side to see the bloody ropes on the floor.

"You missed me so much that you let Batman bring Replacement in to take everything that was mine." The words came out with so much venom Catwoman stepped back in shock her hands falling her sides.

"Don't call him that. It's an insult to you, to him. He was never a replacement. You can't replace –"

"No. Got rid of the street rat and brought in a better model." The words came out in a snarl. "This one fit in so much better. He didn't have to be taught how to fit in with the civilian life. He just slid right in. He's smarter too. When you think about it the clown did you a favour."

"Stop it. Stop talking like that." Her voice was low.

"Why Cat?" He snapped. "Truth hurt?"

"You broke us!" She yelled at him. Her voice lowered. "You broke us. They say the worst thing par –" She paused and started again. "Losing you was more than we could take. It broke us as individuals, as a family. Batman and I, we, we just stopped."

"You looked pretty cozy with _Tiger_ the last time I saw you." Hood smirked at her.

"It took a really long time, a lot of forgiveness. " She smiled slightly. "A lot of work from Agent A, Nightwing, Robin, and eventually Batman before we could fix it."

"But you did it, you forgave him." Hood was disgusted. "Well, I'm not forgiving him. I died and he let the Joker live."

"It wasn't about him forgiving me." Catwoman muttered under her breath, then louder. "You don't get it, do you? If he slipped off that ledge there would be no stopping the fall. That abyss is too dark for him. It wouldn't stop at Joker."

"Maybe that's what he deserves for letting me die. To become he hunts."

"He didn't let you die." Catwoman rubbed at her temple.

"What? Now you're going to make excuses for him?"

"He didn't let you die." Catwoman's voice dropped. "I did."

"Bullshit!" Hood's eyes narrowed. "Now you're going to take the blame for him? You weren't even there with us."

"I'm not taking the blame for him. I'm putting it where it belongs." Catwoman paused and swallowed hard. "I let you die. Harley knew. Harley knew and I didn't get to her fast enough."

"What?" Hood was stunned. "Harley and Joker hadn't been near each other in months."

"We were wrong."

GOTHAM – HARLEY QUINN'S HIDEOUT

5 YEARS PREVIOUSLY

Catwoman picked her way through the unconscious bodies of Harley's henchmen. It was a good way to end the night. There had been no real rush to take down Harley and her goons. The Commissioner and Catwoman knew all about the bank job they planned to pull two days from then. Everything was locked down in case they had decided to move up the timetable. A Harley on the loose, however, was never a good thing. Catwoman had simply stopped on her way to deal with a few smaller crimes in progress. Now the little clown was trussed up and waiting to go back to Arkham. Catwoman moved to contact Gordon.

"You think you're so much better than the rest of us. Throwing in with the Bat. All you heroes think you're untouchable. Well Mr. J is going to show just how easy it really is to take something you value." Ice slithered down Catwoman's spine at Harley's words but she tried to shrug them off.

"Really Harley? You haven't spoken to Joker in months. He doesn't care about you. You certainly don't know what he's doing." The Cat's voice was cool and calm.

"I do too! This was Mr. J's plan along!" The woman spit out. "I know he's got your little bird all to himself. This time there's no way he's going to get there in time." There was malicious glee in the next words. "Will that break the Bat? Will losing his little bird be more than he can take?"

Something clawed its way up Catwoman's spine, slithered through her stomach, and screamed in her head. She fought it off desperately. Batman found them. He would always find them. He never failed; it was a constant, like the sun rising in the morning. Something, some primal instinct was demanding she listen, that this time would be different. She moved back toward Harley with a predatory, menacing grace. Harley suddenly understood the answer to the question many had asked: Out of all the heroes, why would Batman pick a villain, why Catwoman?

"Start talking."

When Catwoman finally left the building sometime later she was numb. Harley had held out longer than expected. Loyalty to her beloved Mr. J was engrained in the woman's soul. Eventually, she had broken, had given Catwoman every sickening detail of Joker's plan for Robin. Harley had confirmed that in her last contact with Joker he had Robin in his possession.

Catwoman let the grappling line pull her up into the Batplane. She curled herself into the seat and tried to take some comfort from the familiar scents that would normally remind her of Batman. It wasn't helping. She slid her finger to com link that would connect her to the Batcave.

"Yes, Catwoman?" Came the altered voice from the line.

"Agent A." Catwoman paused to get control of her voice. "I need you to connect me to Batman. It's urgent."

"Catwoman, it would be best if you returned to the Cave." Agent A responded.

"Negative, Agent A." Catwoman's fingers dug into the Kevlar of her suit to stay in control. "This is a highly time sensitive matter. I have information regarding Robin. I need to speak to Br-Batman now."

"…Catwoman. Come home." The voice on the other end of the line was gentle.

"No. Please." The words came out as a sob. She curled tighter into the seat. She took no notice as Agent A activated the remote autopilot and the Batplane began its trip back to the Batcave.

GOTHAM - RED HOOD'S HEADQUARTERS

PRESENT DAY

Red Hood stared at Catwoman shocked. She'd braced as if waiting for an attack. He thought that if he did attack she wouldn't resist. He could just raise his gun and shot, throw a knife and potentially hit a weak spot in the armour. It had been five years but he'd been around enough Bat armour he could probably still figure out the weak spots.

"It's my fault! I let you die! If I'd broken Harley sooner!" The words spewed out of her like poison. She spun around and her body heaved, shuddered. Hood's hand reached out to her involuntarily but he stopped it partway. The next words came out her on a sob. "I swear I didn't know. Not until it was too late. If I had been faster. I'm so sorry. I let you die."

Her legs collapsed out from under her. Hood caught her before she hit the floor. He lowered them both slowly the rest of the way. Catwoman clung to him and sobbed into his jacket. His hand stroked her hair and her back as the sobs slowed but the tears remained. He tried to process the new information. How did it change things?

Nightwing found them that way when he climbed through the window thirty minutes later.

GOTHAM – BATCAVE

5 YEARS PREVIOUSLY

Bruce rested against the Batcomputer with Selina pulled up against him, his head laid against hers, hands tangled in her hair. It helped somewhat. Bruce had been home with Jason's body, it made Selina's stomach revolt just to think that, for less than 24 hours. Some sort of touching, anything at all, just to remind each other they were still there, still solid and not going to float away helped.

She had to tell him. As much as it would hurt she had to tell him. Before Gordon did, before another source did, before Clark in all his self-righteousness asked if it had been worth beating Harley almost to death. While she doubted Bruce would blame her for the act at this point it would be her _failure_ that would be the sticking point.

"I'm sorry." She muttered against his chest. "I should have gotten to her to sooner. If I had known sooner I could have done something."

Bruce started to shush her but then stiffened and lifted his head to look down at her. "What did you say?"

Selina didn't want to move. She wanted to leave her head right where it was snuggled on that warm broad expanse of chest. Instead she moved slightly back and looked up to meet his gaze.

"Harley knew. I, I didn't get to her fast enough. I didn't break her fast enough. I didn't _know_." Tears shimmered in her eyes.

Bruce stood up and pushed her back from him. "Harley knew what Joker was planning?"

"They were in contact. She knew he had him. I was tracking her for something else." Selina bit her lip. "When I took her down, she taunted me with it. I didn't get there fast enough. I didn't break her fast enough to get you the details."

"You could have stopped it." Bruce's voice was cold and suddenly the space between them was impossibly wide. "You let my son die." Selina's heart cracked at 'my son' and she stared into Bruce's hard blue eyes willing the tears not to fall. There was no way to deny what she knew to be the truth. "Get out. Don't come back."

Selina couldn't move for what seemed like an eternity. Then she turned and walked slowly toward the staircase. It turned out she wouldn't float away at all. Not when there was depths of despair to sink into too.

 _Parents blame themselves and each other when they lose a child. Given the circumstances and how messed up these two are the fall out could be nasty. Alfred realizes, and so does Bruce once he gets some perspective, that Jason was already dead when Selina found out about the bank heist. There was no way she could have gotten the info in time. Harley knew that too she just wanted to taunt Selina then when things went bad she was terrified to tell her because she figured the only thing keeping her alive was the hope that Selina could save Jason._

 _Everyone had guilt. Dick because he was off-world. Bruce that he let Jason die and then that he blamed Selina for it. He would have stayed away from her for a long time thinking she could never forgive him for those two things because he couldn't forgive himself. Selina didn't believe them for a long time about the sequence of events. She does eventually but there's still a part of her that thinks she could have been better, faster and saved Jason's life. She probably would have been fine if he hadn't come back to life._

 _Poor Hood. There's always one parent you don't blame. One you hold innocent. Bruce has always been the bad guy. Since he doesn't know the sequence of events he actually might think he should have been blaming her all along._


End file.
